Up-to-the-minute advice, information, resources, and, on occasion, commentary on federal and New Jersey state income taxes, and the various New Jersey property tax rebate programs, and insights and observations on tax policy and professional tax practice, by 40-year veteran tax professional Robert D Flach.

Monday, October 31, 2011

In today's ZIGGY cartoon by Tom Wilson our hero is sitting at a desk in the offices of the Internal Revenue Service.

The IRS agent tells Ziggy, ". . .and check this box if you want your refund to go to less fortunate taxpayers!"

But Ziggy does not have to check the box - Congress has already checked it for him! Chances are his refund would be bigger if it were not for the almost half of Americans who, thanks to the idiots in Congress, either pay absolutely no federal income tax or who actually make a profit by filing a Form 1040.

And did you see Tom's comment to my Happy Halloween post?

"Tax classes start Wednesday with 2 hrs of ethics, which means that half the class will be playing on their laptops/notebooks, 1/4 will be reading paperbacks/newspapers, etc. and the other 1/4 will be walking around or taking long smoking/bathroom breaks..."

I am usually in the 1/4 that read newspapers - or other sections of the workbook.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

According
to the IRS “e-News for Tax Professionals” Issue 2011-42 that I just received
via email (highlight is mine)-

“The IRS is providing special transitional
relief to banks and other payment settlement entities required to begin
reporting payment card and third-party network transactions to the IRS on new
Form 1099-K.

By law, reporting is scheduled to begin in early
2012 for payment card and third-party network transactions that occurred in
2011. But under new guidance, they
will not have to begin reporting until 2013.Details on the special transitional relief
and reporting requirements are in these FAQs,
and more information on this relief is in Notice 2011-88 and Notice 2011-89.”

I
have not found anything in a quick review of the referenced FAQs or Notices
that reporting is postponed until 2013.

Under
the FAQs it states–

“Information reporting for payment card and
third party network transactions are due to the IRS by Feb. 28 (March 31, if
filed electronically), of the year following the transactions. The first Forms 1099-K will be due for
calendar year 2011, and must be submitted to the IRS by Feb. 28, 2012
(March 31, 2012 if filed electronically).”

And
the notices involve relief from back-up withholding and penalties for reporting
incorrect information.

I
have found nothing else to suggest that the requirement has been
postponed.So it seems the IRS “misspoke”.

"During
the last major tax code rewrite in 1986, the IRS instructions for Form 1040
totaled 52 pages. For tax year 2009, those same instructions more than doubled
— weighing in at 105 pages.

According to the Tax Foundation, the Internal Revenue
Code plus all IRS regulations grew from 5.7 million words in 1986 to 9.1
million words in 2005. And both the Code and regulations have expanded
significantly since. Going back further, in 1955 the Code and all IRS
regulations totaled just 718,000 words.”

“The income earned by the top 1% of United
States taxpayers has declined for the second year in a row while their average
tax rate has increased, according to a study by the Tax Foundation (TF).”

The
article tells us -

“The TF's analysis is based on new data from
the Internal Revenue Service on individual income taxes for the calendar year
2009, and shows that the average federal tax rate for those reporting at least
$344,000 in income has increased from 22.5% in 2007 to 24.0% in 2009, while the
average income for the top 1% has declined from $1.4 Million to $1 Million over
the same period.”

And -

“The TF discovered that, in 2009, the top 1%
of tax returns earned 16.9% of adjusted gross income and paid 36.7% of all
federal individual income taxes.”

+
Forbes.com’s TAX GIRL Kelly Phillips Erb is worried about a possible change of
attitude at the IRS based on a recent client-related telephone interaction with
a representative of the Service, and talks about her concerns in “IRS Gone Bad: Are Things About to Get Even Worse?”

“It was the first of a number of incidents
that I would have previously considered to be out of character for IRS.Shocked
by what appeared to be a change of direction from the ‘kinder, gentler IRS’ in
the 90s, I asked my colleagues on twitter whether they had noticed a difference
in the IRS treatment of taxpayers:

The answer was a resounding yes.”

In my
almost 40 years in the business I can count on the fingers of one hand (and
have fingers left over) the number of times I have discussed a client issue
with the IRS over the phone.I do not
trust what I am told via telephone.I
respond to client issues by written correspondence only.It takes more time to resolve the issue, but
I have found that I get “satisfaction” most of the time.

+ Some
“horn tootin’” - I just discovered that THE WANDERING TAX PRO is on Prof Jim
Maule’s list of “Mauled Again's 10 Favorite Tax Blogs”!Jim is a Professor of Law at the Villanova
University School of Law.

The
post also takes a look at some of the most common choices for small business
owners.

+ Just
an observation – Kelly Phillips Erb mentioned in one of her posts last week
that “Romney is rich. As in über rich.
Romney’s net worth is estimated to be northwards of $250 million. He is thought
to earn close to $10 million in income per year with some speculation that the
number is closer to $40 million”.Why would someone with all that money want all the agita that comes with
running for office, and if winning actually having to be President?

JHC –
if I had $250,000 Million in investments, and made $10 Million per year in
income, the last thing I would want to do is be President.I would just enjoy myself.If I had 1/10th of that in
investments and annual income - i/20th even - I would do nothing but
just enjoy myself.

If I
had Romney’s money I would probably start a foundation for animal welfare and
arts charities to keep me busy.

Under
Perry’s flat option, one begins with “everything is table” and adds “except
Social Security and Railroad Retirement benefits, qualified dividends, and
long-term capital gains”.

Or
does it begin with “everything that is currently taxable continues to be
taxable” except Social Security and Railroad Retirement benefits, etc?I expect that is where it would begin.

The “Sample Tax Return” that Perry has suggested would need more than
just one line for “Your 2014 Income”.What makes up this income?W-2
wages, interest (currently taxable and exempt, or just currently taxable), net
income from self-employment, rental income, income from partnerships,
S-corporations, and estates, short-term capital gains, alimony, etc, etc, etc?And would these categories of income continue
to be taxed as they currently are?

There
would need to be a page 2 to identify the sources of “Your 2014 Income”.And we would still need Schedules C, D, E and
F to report the income.Or does Perry
mean gross income from all sources is taxed, with no Schedule C, E, or F
deductions?And a Schedule SE would be
needed to report the self-employment tax.Unlike Cain, Perry does not mention abolishing the FICA payroll tax, so
I expect he also means to continue the self-employment tax.

He
then goes on to say “nothing is deductible” and adds “except mortgage interest,
charitable contributions, and state and local tax”.Is that mortgage interest on your primary
principal residence only, or also on a second personal residence?Is there a cap on the principal amount on
which mortgage interest can be deducted?Is mortgage interest limited to interest on “acquisition indebtedness”? And does “state and local tax” also include
real estate tax, which is a local tax?

Presumably
there would be no deductions for alimony paid, retirement plan contributions,
self-employed health insurance premiums, ½ of self-employment tax.Or are these deductions, currently allowed “above
the line” to be included in the determination of “Your 2014 Income”?Is Perry’s “Your 2014 Income” the same as the
current Adjusted Gross Income (AGI)?

These
are all questions that need to be answered.

So
you see – a flat tax, while certainly infinitely simpler, and “more better”,
than our current mucking fess, is not necessarily simple.

Perry’s
flat tax system, even if it is the only system and not an “option” as he
stupidly suggests, would not put tax professionals like me out of work.We would still be needed for the supplemental
schedules C, D, E, F, and SE.

As
I have always said –

(1)Regardless of how simple the tax
return is taxpayers will still seek out a tax preparer to avoid the
inconvenience of preparing it themselves, and

(2)I would make more money, experience substantially
less agita, and have limited GD extensions if I did nothing all day during the
tax season but complete a Form 1040A or 1040EZ type form.

Once
I have completed the remaining 2010 GD extensions I will, as previously
promised, compile my proposed new Tax Code into an outline and make it
available.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

To quote an Alan Jay Lerner lyric
from MY FAIR LADY – “Damn, damn, damn,
damn!”Blogger.com continues to FU
the formatting of my blog posts.This is
very frustrating, and I waste too much time trying unsuccessfully to fix the
FUs.Will I have to change my blog host?

+ Tax
attorney Robert W Wood, Kelly Phillips Erb and Peter J Reilly’s tax blog
colleague at FORBES.COM, talks about the effects of the Tax Reform Act of 1986
in “Reagan’s Law Redux”.

Robert
states that - “Of the myriad changes made
in 1986, most were good. Some were not.”He goes on to correctly note that perhaps the worst outcome of TRA 86 is
the monster that the dreaded AMT has become -

“When enacted in 1969, the AMT targeted tax
shelters used by a few wealthy households. The 1986 reform unleashed the AMT in
ways aimed at virtually every kind of deduction. Indeed, for all the good the
1986 Act did, the grasping hand of the AMT arguably took away what the other
hand gave. The AMT today lacks theory
and equity and cries out for repeal.”

“Everyone agrees that the tax system is
complex, unfair, and inefficient. And it doesn’t come close to raising enough
revenue to pay for the government, whose needs will only grow as the baby
boomers retire and health care costs continue to rise.”

However
-

“The only problem is that tax reform is
really, really hard and the political process in Washington has eroded far more
than the tax code since 1986.”

I tend
to agree when Len concludes -

“My bottom line: tax reform has never been more
necessary, it’s hard to see a solution to our budget problems without it, and
it’s just impossible.”

+ Even a crazy person can say
something sane every now and then.According to KFGO (the Mighty 790) “Bachmann On Taxes: Everyone
Should Pay Something”.

During the Las Vegas debate she said
every American should pay some amount in taxes “even if it's a dollar.''

For some
time now I have been, in response to the fact that half of Americans pay
absolutely no federal income tax, calling for a true “minimum tax” – every
non-student taxpayer with income age 18 or over should pay a minimum tax of
$100.00.

“The folks in Washington might not like to
hear it, but the plain truth is the U.S. government spends too much. Taxes are
too high, too complex, and too riddled with special interest loopholes. And our
expensive entitlement system is unsustainable in the long run.”

And
goes on to propose a “’Cut, Balance and
Grow’ plan to scrap the current tax code, lower and simplify tax rates, cut spending
and balance the federal budget, reform entitlements, and grow jobs and economic
opportunity”.

The
portion of Perry’s plan that concerns 1040 filers includes the following
provisions -

·Give
Americans “a choice between a new, flat
tax rate of 20% or their current income tax rate. The new flat tax preserves
mortgage interest, charitable and state and local tax exemptions for families
earning less than $500,000 annually, and it increases the standard deduction to
$12,500 for individuals and dependents.This
simple 20% flat tax will allow Americans to file their taxes on a postcard.”

·“Eliminate the tax on Social Security
benefits, boosting the incomes of 17 million current beneficiaries who see
their benefits taxed if they continue to work and earn income in addition to
Social Security earnings.”

·“Eliminate the tax on qualified dividends and
long-term capital gains to free up the billions of dollars Americans are
sitting on to avoid taxes on the gain.”

·Abolish
“the death tax once and for all,
providing needed certainty to American family farms and small businesses”.

·Repeal
ObamaCare.

·Give
“younger workers the option to own their
Social Security contributions through personal retirement accounts that
Washington politicians can never raid. Because young workers will own their
contributions, they will be free to seek a market rate of return if they
choose, and to leave their retirement savings to their dependents when they die.”

My reactions –

1)I support his flat tax proposal,
keeping only the deductions Perry suggests.But I would not limit the deductions based on AGI.I do not see why we should offer taxpayers a
choice between a flat tax and the current tax – shred the current tax system
completely and establish the flat tax.
This is not the first time a choice has been suggested, and I opposed it the first time around. And, as I have said when this idea was first proposed (I think by
Obama), I doubt a “postcard” tax return would be sufficient to properly report
income.At best there would be a
one-page 1040-EZ.

2)While I am not against exempting
Social Security and Railroad Retirement benefits from taxation if it fits into
the plan, I have in the past suggested that we instead tax these benefits the
same as any other retirement plan distribution under the current Simplified Method.

3)I do not support completely eliminating
tax on “qualified” dividends and long-term capital gains.As I have said in the past, I would allow
corporations a “dividends paid deduction”, tax all dividends received by
individuals as ordinary income, and allow a 50% “capital gain deduction”.

4)I would support abolishing the
so-called “death tax” as long as we maintain the stepped-up basis of inherited
property. Keeping the stepped-up basis is more important to me than repealing the estate tax altogether.

5)I do believe that the current “Obamacare”
system is too convoluted and would support its repeal, as long as Congress
looked at other ways to provide relief for high health insurance costs.

6)I am all for allowing new workers
entering the Social Security system to “own” their accounts.I would support employee and employer
contributions to Social Security being deposited into an actual account, untouchable
until age 62, which allows workers to select either a money market, US
Treasuries, or an index fund, or a combination thereof, and allows balances to
be transferred to the separate Social Security accounts of beneficiaries upon
death.

The new revival of
ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER starring Harry Connick Jr, which is coming
to the St James Theatre in November, has the cogliones to rewrite Broadway
legend Alan Jay Lerner’s original book, turning the story gay.The new book replaces flake Daisy Gamble with
fruit David Gamble, still “affianced” to “perfect” boyfriend Warren.At least they have kept the “past life”
persona, who Connick Jr’s character falls in love with, a female - which adds a
new dimension to the song “What Did I Have That I Don’t Have?”!

I could consider
trying to understand the updating of the Melinda character from Victorian
England to the 1940’s jazz scene – although it would appear that this could
cause the loss of the witty song “Don’t Tamper With My Sister” (“A sin is not a sin until a sin is seen.So let us misdemean where lights are low.”).But I see no reason at all for gaying it up.I say, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. And AJL’s script was certainly not broken.

I saw the original
Broadway production of OACDYCSF, with Barbara Harris, John Cullum, and William
Daniels, when I was 12, and it was my Senior Play in high school (I was in the
chorus and had two small parts).

The same thing was
done with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s FLOWER DRUM SONG, which I also saw on
Broadway as a child, a few years ago.The revival rewrote Oscar Hammerstein’s book.However, I did not see that production, so I
cannot properly comment on the changes.

I do intend to see
the OACD revival – to see how badly the original has been FU-ed.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Beginning with tax year 2011 payments made to businesses by credit card companies and “third-party networks” (resulting from customers using a credit card or PayPal to pay a vendor for merchandise or services) during the calendar year must be reported to the business, and to the IRS, on new IRS information return Form 1099-K.

As a result of this new requirement
the IRS has revised the 2011 Schedule C, in its current draft version, to break
down gross receipts into three (3) separate categories -

Line 1a = Gross merchant card and
third party network receipts and sales (see instructions)

Line 1b = Gross receipts or sales
not entered on Line 1a

Line 1c = Income reported to you on
Form W-2 if the “Statutory Employee” box on that for was checked

Line 1d = Total Gross Receipts

The instructions for Line 1a state –

“Enter
on this line payments you received in your trade or business through merchant
cards and third party networks.These
payments should have been reported to you in Box 1 of Form 1040-K, Merchant
Card and Third Party Network Payments.Also include on this line payments received through merchant cards and
third party networks that may not have been reported on Forms 1099-K that you
received.Merchant cards include, but
are not limited to, Visa and MasterCard.Third party networks include, but are not limited to, Paypal and Google
Checkout.”

FYI, the draft instructions for Form 1099-K have not yet been released.However Box 1 of the Form 1099-K is identified as “Gross amount of merchant card/third party network payments”.

“. . .the amounts on the Form 1099-K’s will not match true sales. First, these amounts will
include sales tax, shipping, and other non-sales charges. Second, the amounts
on the Form 1099-K’s will be reported using cash basis. Any business that is
accrual basis will have matching issues. Third, the reporting will likely be
meaningless for any business that reports on a fiscal (non-December year-end)
year {although I should point out that a monthly breakdown of gross
receipts is included on the draft 2011 Form 1099-K Boxes 5a – 5l - rdf}.”

I expect that, for expediency sake,
Schedule C filers, and tax professionals should do as Russ suggests -

“The
solution that I expect most businesses to use is to just use the Form 1099-K to
populate this line. It’s simple, and guarantees that there will be no matching
problems. Of course, that puts the cart before the horse but if you’re a
business owner or a tax professional this solution is likely the one that
lessens the risk of an audit.”

I expect this is what I will do for the
very few clients where this will apply.

If a business determines that it has
$100,000 of gross sales for 2011, and it receives Form 1099-Ks whose Box 1 total
$48,000, it would enter $48,000 in Box 1a, $52,000 in Box 1b, and $100,000 in
Box 1d on Schedule C.

This method is not strictly a true
reporting.As Russ mentions, the amount
entered in Box 1 of Form 1099-K will be the gross payments made by the
third-party, and will include sales tax and other charges.While shipping and other charges can be
deducted out in the expense section of Schedule C, sales tax collections, and
the remittance thereof, should not be reported anywhere on the Schedule C.

If the amount
reported in Box 1 is $50,000, and this includes $3,200 in sales tax collected,
the true amount entered on Line 1a should be $46,800.But if the lower amount is entered the number
would not “match” the Form 1099-K received by the IRS, and could result in an
inquiry or an audit.

I do not know if
all third party payers have sufficient information to identify sales tax
assessments included in gross payments, so correcting the Form 1099-K to report
gross payments less sales tax, or also
separately report sales tax included in the Box 1 amount, may not be the
answer.

Similar changes
have been made to 2011 corporation and partnership returns, and the 2011
Schedule E.Lines 3a and 3b on the
Schedule E are similar to Lines 1a and 1b on the Schedule C, and the instructions
for Line 3a are basically the same as for the Schedule C. While corporations and partnerships will experience the
same problems as Schedule C filers, this should not cause problems for Schedule
E filers, as there is no sales tax collected on monthly rental payments.

Another problem
presents itself.What about a customer
who issues a vendor a Form 1099-MISC for “nonemployee compensation” in the amount
of $5000, which was paid via credit card, or PayPal.The business will receive a Form 1099-MISC from
the customer and a Form 1099-K from the credit card processing company, or
PayPal, for the same income!How will
this affect the IRS “matching” program?

Saturday, October 22, 2011

BTW – I do
apologize for the inconsistency of the type in recent posts here at TWTP.For some reason Blogger.com seems to be a bit
FU-ed – and I have trouble when I “cut and paste” blog posts from Word to
Blogger.Can anyone provide any guidance
for how to fix, or avoid, the FUs?

“Are you in the top 25% of all earners? The top 10%? Plus, find out what
portion of the tax burden you bear according to your income status.”

The accompanying article “Where Do You Rank as a Taxpayer?” has a breakdown of income and taxes
paid by category which indicates that for 2009 the top 1% paid 37% of federal
income taxes collected, the top 50% paid 98%, and the bottom 50% paid 2%.

Constipation, Mr Holmes!So why
did you not start earlier in the year?And when are you going to start seriously working on the overhaul?I am tired of hearing every politician say we
must reform the Tax Code.Do something
about it!

“A 401(k) account held with your employer isn't a piggy bank you can
crack open and raid. While
some plans offer in-service withdrawals, it's not common. The 401(k) plan may
have loan provisions allowing you to borrow against the plan, but it isn't
required to have a plan loan option.”

While
some plans offer a loan option, this can result in tax problems if you
terminate your employment before paying off the loan.

Your 401(k)
account is “retirement savings”.You
should use it to save for retirement.It
should be the absolute last place you turn to for money, and only if you do
have a true emergency or hardship.

As a
related aside - depending on your emergency you may be able to avoid the
premature penalty on some of the withdrawal if you first transfer the money to
an IRA.

The
person posing the question says that he will use the money from reduced
mortgage payments to “rebuild” the 401K9K account.In response Dr Don makes a good point –

“I'm not a huge fan of people raiding their
retirement accounts with the promise they'll rebuild them with future savings.
Yes, you can make the math work, but you have to have the financial discipline
to actually replenish the savings. Do you truly have that discipline?”

“The American
Institute of CPAs convinced the Internal Revenue Service to require registered
tax return preparers under the new IRS’s regulatory program to add a special
disclaimer to any of their advertising to avoid the appearance of an IRS
endorsement.”

I am glad the AICPA is worried that the new RTRP
initials will help dispel the urban tax myth that a CPA = tax expert.

The
item did not quote the actual disclaimer.

Thanks,
Knobby!

+
I am constantly referencing lists here at the BUZZ that verify the high taxes
NJ residents are subject to.However
there is one list where NJ is at the bottom.

“He said he would unveil a proposal
next week calling for creation of a flat tax, which would replace the present
system of graduated tax rates based on income with a single rate for all
taxpayers regardless of income.

Perry told an audience of about 150
Republicans that his plan would also include a ban on congressional earmarks,
passage of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, spending cuts and
entitlement reform. He plans to unveil details in a speech Tuesday in South
Carolina.”

Perry
would shred "the current 3 million
words of the American tax code" and replace it with "something simple: a flat tax."

"I want to make the tax code so simple that
even (Treasury Secretary) Timothy
Geithner can file his taxes on time."

I am not against a flat tax, and look forward to
hearing more details next week (which I will report to you here).

“Lowers the
corporate tax rate to 15%, making America competitive in the global market.
Allows American companies to repatriate capital without additional taxation,
spurring trillions in new investment. Extends all Bush tax cuts. Abolishes the
Death Tax. Ends taxes on personal savings, allowing families to build a nest
egg.”

+ One would hope that most voters agree that
Michele Bachman is too crazy to be taken seriously.But if you don’t, here is what she has said
about her tax plan –

“And under my tax
plan I want to adopt the Reagan tax plan. It brought the economic miracle of
the 1980s. Why not go with what works? I want to reinstitute the Reagan tax
model from the 1980s.”

“As many as 2.1 million taxpayers
may have erroneously claimed a total of $3.2 billion by taking advantage of the
American Opportunity Tax Credit,
which provides up to $2,500 in relief for college students paying tuition and
related expenses. The tax credit, once known as the Hope Scholarship Credit,
was expanded as part of the 2009 economic stimulus program.”

“Are you afraid of Quicken?
Do you hate working on your computer? Is record keeping one of your least
favorite things to do? If you feel this way but still want to get every tax
deduction you possibly can qualify for, you’re not alone.”

Erin
provides “tips for getting the most out
of your small business tax returns without stressing yourself over software
programs and techie stuff”.

“Section 501 of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade
Agreement Implementation Act, HR 3080, increases the EITC due
diligence penalty from $100 to $500. The Sec. 6695(g) penalty applies to each
failure of a tax return preparer to exercise due diligence in determining
taxpayer eligibility for, or the amount of, anEITC.”

And –

“Section 502 of the Korea trade act adds (as
new Sec. 6116) a requirement that the Federal Bureau of Prisons and state
prison administrative agencies annually send the IRS a list of all inmates
incarcerated in the prison system at any time during the previous two calendar
years and the first eight months of the current year.”

There
would be no need for assessing an EITC due diligence penalty if the EITC was
taken out of the Tax Code and the benefit was provided as a direct payment by
the appropriate federal or state social service agencies!

+ While I
could not renew my PTIN online (as I discussed in my post “PTIN Update”) EA
Russ Fox was finally able to after much trouble and agita, as he explains in “PTIN Follies, Year 2” at TAXABLE TALK.

+
Submit a comment and help support breast cancer research in TAX GIRL Kelly
Phillips Erbs’ annual “Comment for the Cure” at FORBES.

AIN'T THAT THE TRUTH!

DONALD T RUMP HAS NOT DONE A SINGLE THING THAT IS "APPROPRIATE" OR "ACCEPTABLE" FOR A CANDIDATE OR A PRESIDENT SINCE THROWING HIS HAT INTO THE RING.EVERY SINGLE DAY TRUMP PROVIDES MORE PROOF THAT HE IS AN IGNORANT, SELF-ABSORBED, UNFIT, MENTALLY UNSTABLE IDIOT, AND A DEPLORABLE AND DESPICABLE HUMAN BEING.TRUMP MUST BE REMOVED FROM OFFICE FOR MENTAL INCOMPETENCE ASAP! PLEASE READ AND SHARE THIS - THE TRUTH ABOUT TRUMP'S MENTAL CONDITION

Donald T Rump has not done a single thing that anyone with intelligence would consider “appropriate” or “acceptable” for a President since deciding to run for office.

Every single day Trump provides more proof that he is an ignorant, self-absorbed, unfit, mentally unstable idiot, and a deplorable and despicable human being, who must be removed from office ASAP.

VERY IMPORTANT -

(1) Before contacting me with questions about how a blog post relates to your specific situation, please be aware that I do not give free tax advice to non-clients by e-mail, comment response, or phone. So don't waste your time and mine.

(2) I am winding down my tax practice, and I will not, under any circumstances, accept any new clients. Period. I am actually trying to "thin the herd".